Man's Best Friend.

I created a film about my dog that received international attention.

This is a passion project of mine that I did all on my own time. When my father told me that he was going to put my dog down I knew I had to start capturing footage of our dog Griffey. A majority of the footage I captured the morning of his death.

Shooting
I wanted to film him doing his normal stuff. Laying in his favorite spot, looking out his favorite window and sniffing around in the backyard.

After putting him him down and looking through the footage I knew I had something emotional.

I asked my Dad if I could interview him about Griffey. So we had a short 10 minute discussion that I recorded with a USB mic. Nothing fancy.

I started piecing together his interview and crafting a story with it while I stumbled through some old footage. I found some awesome old clips of Griffey and thought they’d work perfect with his interview.

Score
After collecting all this footage and material I started writing a score. I wanted the score to move from intense to freeing / stressed to relaxed. I used Logic 9 and started creating ambient undertones with synths. Next I added some piano at the beginning to create an intense “what happens next” feel. Then I moved onto acoustic guitar to create a more freeing melody. I added some percussion to make it feel even more upbeat. Last, I went through and added foley. If you listen close at the beginning you can hear heavy breathing which adds even more to the intensity of it all.

Edit
On the edit I started with clips of the Vets office where we actually put Griffey down. This combined with the music and VO created an intense moment. Then I began editing almost like a memory, as the film went on, young and old clips of Griffey began to show. The color grade also followed suit, I started cold by using lots of blues. I ended by keeping clips more natural.

I did all parts of the production including shooting, editing, coloring and scoring the piece. Because the video was so personal to me I got to spend time on the finer details like the old VHS shots and voiceover.